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“A CHALLENGE TO ARISE 1” by Bro Gbile Akani Part 1-3

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“A CHALLENGE TO ARISE 1”

“And when these lepers came to the utter-most part of the camp, they went into one tent and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver,

and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household. So they came and called unto the porter of the city, and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of men, but horses tied, and asses tied and the tents as they were. And they called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within…”
2Kings 7:8-11 KJV


When God lends you a key into divine intervention, to salvation, joy, and His power, a key to his Word, there is a responsibility that He expects of you. When those lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp and discovered there was no man, they went into one tent, ate and drank and carried from it silver and gold and raiment and went and hid them. They again entered another tent and carried things from there also and went and hid them. They continued in the same cycle until God lent them wisdom.

May God open your eyes so that you may know something that could turn your joy, your provision, your breakthrough into emptiness.

God wants to lend you the principle of continuous growth, prosperity, expansion, and joy that will never end. Imagine what they started doing when they stumbled on abundance: they ate and drank, collected silver, gold, and raiment and hid them. Does that describe the summary of your activities? They ate, they drank; they carried gold, silver and raiment never to bless anybody else with them but to hide them in the bush! Did they ever imagine when they were going to spend the things they were hiding? You could have some good things you have been hiding and waiting for the opportunity to use while there are people who have the need for them now. It could even be some wonderful messages or songs that could have blessed lives; yet, you are keeping them for a time you do not know.

Maybe you are waiting for an opportunity to glorify self. Where would these lepers go when everybody in the city would have died of hunger? Where will the joy be? Beauty is not in the eyes of the person who is dressed up but in the eyes of the beholder, those that are watching. Have you ever imagined the agony of having a very beautiful dress when nobody is there to admire it?

As long as you have no vision to share your life, you are just like a mere pendulum repeating yourself, doing the same thing over and over again. Without a vision for sharing and pouring out your life, you become a pendulum Christian. It does not matter your excitement, it will amount to nothing.

 

“A CHALLENGE TO ARISE 2”

“And when these lepers came to the utter-most part of the camp, they went into one tent and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household. So they came and called unto the porter of the city, and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of men, but horses tied, and asses tied and the tents as they were. And they called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within…”
2Kings 7:8-11 KJV

The things that God wrought with His divine power and intervention, these lepers were hiding them. They did not know who terrified those Syrians and pushed them out. They just went and met it and they sat down to eat and drink. For your joy to last and for you to have an ever-increasing joy as a Christian, you must go beyond the eating, the drinking, the collecting of silver and gold and hiding them. You must get to the realm of sharing and the realm of service. If you do not do that, those issues that seem to be conquered will become fresh battles. When a man does not see the vision of investing his life, to raise others that are still sitting in the region of ignorance and darkness, he will enter into problems. It is not only sorrow that kills.

Even happiness can kill when there is nobody to share it with. Imagine that something good happened to you, and your wife and your children are not around; your close friends are not around to share the joy with you! You want to laugh, but if you laugh and there is nobody to laugh with, you will look like a psychiatric patient. People will grab you and take you to the hospital because you are laughing to yourself. Once you do not share your joy or sorrow it has the same result.

The lepers came to this realization and they said to one another, “We do not well.” They got a correct assessment of their lives. If good things have been happening to you in the past few days and all you could do is to come again to eat and drink and to gather silver and to gather gold and raiment and to go and hide it, you do not do well. When God visits a man and brings him into deliverance, He does it so that it can become a testimony, a witness, so that others can benefit and come to know the Lord who helped you.

What the Holy Spirit is doing with you is good, but there is this other side that if we do not take note of, the things we think are so wonderful to us will become sour again. They said, “if we tarry till the morning light some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come that we may go and tell the king’s household.” God wanted to help those lepers so that His glory will permanently manifest in their lives.

God wanted to change their destiny that they might have a name and a record in God’s book of chronicles. Thank God they responded. I pray that you will respond also. Indeed the time we are in now is a time of good tiding. And I want to say to you, respond to the challenge of telling the good news of God. If we hold our peace, some mischief will come upon us. Part of the weapon of our warfare is the shoe of readiness to announce the Good News. But if we do not put it on, some mischief will come upon us.

Some years ago, I was a teacher in a secondary school. The school had very matured boys and girls. I also discovered Male teachers posted to that school use to jubilate. Their reason was because of the girls in the school. It was common practice among the teachers and the boys to keep fighting over the girls. Students could gang up and beat up their teacher. And when I got into that kind of school I wondered what to do. The only thing that God said was “Preach the Good News. So I confronted these students with the word of God one after the other and some repented. Thank God some of them are pastors today. Some of them are in different professions and they are standing for Jesus. There were times when there were uproars in the college and nobody could discipline the students. The teachers had lost their integrity. The principal would then call me to help and the students would submit. The Good News that you share will protect those things that God has decided to bless your life with.

In another school, I discovered that since evangelism was not allowed, the boys grew up so wild that they would enter into teachers’ homes and rape their teachers’ wives. Do you know that the boys that we do not have time to preach the gospel to in the schools, are the boys that carry guns as armed robbers and harass us in our houses? We do not well.

If we tarry, some mischief will come upon us. Even the Church will not be safe if we tarry. If we tarry with the issue of spreading the Good News of what God had done for mankind on the cross of Calvary and shy away from confronting men with it, trouble is coming. Politics can never change men; only the message of the cross changes people and makes them reasonable. As I watch the situation in our country, churches and their pastors are becoming more sophisticated and materialistic instead of reaching out to the lost with the gospel.

The lives of pastors and ministers are also not safe at all! As we keep collecting and changing raiment, we are not safe. Some preachers invest a lot of money exorbitantly on their garments rather than on souls. Such preachers think that God’s prosperity is for their personal consumption. No! It is God’s investment for the gospel that we have discovered by the grace of God, even our cities, our towns, will no longer be safe for us. As I watch the new trend of Christianity in our land, I am forced to conclude, “We do not well, we do not well.” Some mischief will come upon us if we tarry.

Let me tell you, it is nothing glorious that a man of God now has a retinue of body guards and security men. It is a mischief. You know what we are saying by that, is that our God is not able to protect us! I see us shouting, “touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.’’ We claim that scripture with ignorance, not knowing that those men that God gave those command about were not pot-bellied. If we tarry at this, some mischief will come upon us; the society itself will reject us. There is urgency about this matter.

 

“A CHALLENGE TO ARISE 3: We Do Not Well.”

“And when these lepers came to the utter-most part of the camp, they went into one tent and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household. So they came and called unto the porter of the city, and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of men, but horses tied, and asses tied and the tents as they were. And they called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within…”
2Kings 7:8-11 KJV

God has given the church in Nigeria an opportunity to affect the land positively, but we do not well. We emphasize that which is foolish; we do not pay attention to righteousness. We do not well and mischief is coming on us. Men have learnt our language, and our gimmicks, and they have decided to use these against us. The young man you did not share the Word of God with may become your executor tomorrow.

Churches have become so rich that they are beginning to float finance houses and banks. It is unheard of that Kingdom resources are tied up in the world system. Some mischief will come upon us if we tarry. Those lepers spoke to one another. I wish you will throw a challenge to the next Christian Brother around you and speak to him. Ask him if he has shared the little experience he had. Have you gone to call men that are still groping in darkness to “come and see, the Lord has pushed down your enemy? Jesus has conquered the devil on your behalf?” There is a leprous characteristic that has been manifesting in our lives: the characteristic of eating and drinking and packing and hiding. It is a leprous manifestation. You need someone to tell you. You do not well if in the midst of your noise, and excitement; in the midst of all we think is happening wonderfully around us, you do not share it? You do not well. Brothers, though God has given us definite promise of breakthrough, yet if we tarry with the work of sharing the good news some mischief will come upon us.

May be there is an open door of ministry that is set before you. God Himself opened it for you. Step to it, tarry not, otherwise some mischief will come, and these things you think you will live long to enjoy, you may not be part of them again. God may open some certain doors to you where business will fall on your own side. That is not for you to change your raiment, nor to drink, and eat and overeat but that you may share it. If you remain sluggish and unconcerned, some mischief will come your way and nobody will be able to explain it.

“Now therefore come that we may go and tell the king’s household, so they came and called unto the porters of the city and told them.” Thank God for those lepers. God is going to make you supernaturally strong but it is for a purpose: that you might go and tell the Good News, not to keep coming again and again, asking, “What is the latest?” A few years ago finance houses were booming in Nigeria, new banks were being opened and people were excited. Then beloved brothers started carrying God’s resources to hide in them. If they knew that mischief would fall on them I know they would not have done it. Those things are gone, they are lost and there is nothing you can do about it. Kingdom blessing is not meant to be hidden.

Every available opportunity that will come your way this year, is to tell the news to every man, every woman God brings your way. Tell the news. How it is going to change their destiny is not even your problem because God has already done a work. We ought to move and not tarry for the days are evil. God has pushed away and held down the hands of the enemy that we may quickly do the work. If we tarry, some mischief looms over the top of our heads. Therefore come, arise, go and tell it.

Those that will be sceptical to your message God will still demonstrate His glory; they will still see the power of God break forth, but we must go and tell it. There was urgency with the lepers’ response. They said, “if we tarry till the morning light.” There is a time limit for us to carry out this work. We live at a time when men’s ears are itching and they are piling up teachers for themselves, who tell them what they want to hear. The Bible says a time will come when they will not be able to endure sound doctrine. Right now those itching ears have multiplied, with their teachers. There are all kinds of teachers and all kinds of fellowships now. If we tarry some mischief will come upon us. So arise!

“WHERE TO FOCUS IS JESUS”

WHY SIT WE HERE TILL WE DIE? – 7

“WHERE TO FOCUS IS JESUS”

There are situations that threaten to wreck your life as a person, the church, the Body of Christ or the nation. For God to intervene, He needs a man who is willing to arise, who is willing to risk his life. Those great things and eternal things that took place in the past had always taken place because someone somewhere decided to believe God, and to arise. Most men that God ever used were not men that had great resources in themselves. But there is one thing they did: they believed God and arose. They refused to sit where the devil was putting them. They refused to agree to dwell in the place of their predicament.

“And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians…”
2 Kings 7:3-5 KJV

They arose and God stood with them.

One of the things that keep men lower than what God wants them to be is the fear of death, the fear of failure, the fear of losing out, the fear of the unknown, the fear of the unfamiliar ground. Any man that is not willing to take a step of faith will never experience divine intervention. A step of faith is often a step of risk. Many times your intellect, your human sense tells you that what you are doing is unreasonable and very risky. People who discover the ability and the provision of God for their lives were those that were not going to allow themselves to be glued to their familiar experiences. They were men who were willing to say, “Lord, if it is you I will come.”

Peter took such a step of faith in Matthew 14:24-33. The Bible says they were in the boat and a great storm was blowing and there was nothing they could do to calm the storm. They tried all their expertise and some of them must have felt that the end had come. Even if you know how to swim, how do you swim in turbulent water, in a stormy and confused situation? Suddenly that night, the Lord Jesus began to walk on the water towards them. As He was approaching them, they began to fear again, thinking He was a ghost. But the Lord Jesus said, “Be of good cheer, it is I.”

Peter, right inside that confusion, spoke, “Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water.” Thomas Didymus must have been shivering and saying “Peter, Peter, Peter you are too daring. You like to take useless and unreasonable risks. We said that thing that is coming is a ghost; you want to compare yourself with a ghost? And you are married; you want to die for nothing? Andrew must have said, “Peter, we are from the same family; what do you want me to go and tell our father at home?” But Peter said, “If it is you bid me to come.” The Master said, ‘Come’. As long as it was the Master who told Peter to come, Peter had every reason to arise, to arise from that confusion, from that gloom, to arise from that storm and to step out in faith. Others were calling, others were shivering, some were saying their last prayer because they knew that any moment, they could perish. But Peter seemed to have said, “even if that boat is going to capsize, it is not going to meet me there. Since the Master says, come, I will go to meet Him.”

The man took the first step, not on a bridge and remembers that by the time he arose, the storm had not stopped. The wind was still blowing. But he heard only one word from the mouth of the Master, which kept him going: that word, “come.” Others might be shouting ‘Peter! Peter!! Peter!!!’ Peter could have said, “Leave me alone. The Master has said ‘come’ and I go to meet Him.” He took the second; the third step and he did not sink because he was acting on the word from the Master. He must have been repeating that word in his heart, and as he was doing that he was focusing on Jesus. As long as he focused on what the Master said, even if the storm became twenty times stronger and the wind more boisterous, it could not overcome the word of command from the Master.

The moment you learn to walk by the word of God and not by your feelings, not by environmental conditions, you are bound to prevail. Others must have wished they followed Peter when they saw the confidence with which he went especially as the storm had not subsided in the boat. But when Peter decided no more to look at the Master, the Author and the Finisher of our faith, he began to sink.

A great lesson God must teach us is never to shift our focus from Jesus as soon as we take steps to arise from our present situation. One thing is certain: that we can also arise. We can refuse to sit here yet, without being presumptuous. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will particularly speak to your heart. He will speak to your spirit and cause you personally to arise. As you arise things will change concerning you, your family, your business, the work of God, the Body of Christ and concerning our nation in the name of Jesus Christ (Amen).

WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL BY Pastor Gbile Akanni.”FEAR: THE DEVIL’S WEAPON OF OPPRESSION” 28/9/2015.

WHY SIT WE HERE TILL WE DIE? – 6

“FEAR: THE DEVIL’S WEAPON OF OPPRESSION”

One critical weapon the devil uses to oppress men is the fear of death. Many people will never become what God wants them to be because they are afraid they will die. Those lepers began to reason with themselves: “If we say we will enter into the city, the famine is in the city, we shall die there.” Maybe you are sitting in a wrong place even where you are now. God had wanted you to move long ago, but because where God is asking you to move to is an unfamiliar ground, you have not been able to move. Instead, you keep asking yourself, “What if I go and die there? What if my business dies there? What if my reputation dies there?” That is why you are unable to move to the next stage of God’s plan for your life. Everyone that has done something tangible for God in his lifetime is someone that says, “If I die, I die.” Until you can look at death in the face, and tell death, “if I die, I die” you will never move.

“And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.”
2 Kings 7:3-4 KJV

If you are afraid of death, when will you not die? These lepers took a decision. Their first decision was to deal with death. They first removed the sting of death. They said,

“If we say we will enter into the city, the famine is there and we shall die there, and if we sit still here we will die also.” So it is not the matter of “I do not want to die.” They said, “Now therefore come let us fall unto the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall but die.”

I thank God for their victory. They had victory over death. Victory over death is not when somebody dies but rather, when a man is able to overcome the terror of death. Death is a spirit. This spirit of death goes about with terror, the terror of death. The biggest thing that has kept men in bondage is what is called the fear of death. But for a believer, death is nothing but a step unto higher ground.

Actually, those that live long are not necessarily the people that are afraid of death. People that prevailed over death were people that saw death and said, “if I die, I die but I must do what God called me to do in my lifetime.” Death does not quickly kill such people. The first thing these lepers overcame in their lives was the fear of death. They just resolved that if it was death that was making them sit there “…let’s rise up, let’s go and die. We are not waiting for death to come to us; we are going to meet death now.” They stood up by faith and went to face what they thought was death.

The same conflict seemed to face Esther at a time Mordecai and all the nation of Israel were about to perish. Even though she knew that going to the king without invitation meant loss of position and probably death, she rose up with a determination and went. She conquered the fear of death, thus she could say, “If I perish, I perish!”

As she stood up after praying and fasting in the presence of God, she went, even though the king did not invite her, and she did not die.( Esther 4:16)

It was Julius Caesar who said that cowards die many times before their death. If you will not trust God, actually, you will die many times before you will actually die. You will never be able to take a step of faith. Consider all the men that God used. Each of them overcame the fear of death before they could be useful. How did Moses step out of Pharaoh’s house? The Bible says that he did not fear the wrath of the king, because he esteemed the reproach of Christ better riches than all the treasures of Egypt. (Hebrews 11:26).

He chose to die; that was how he broke through. Remember the widow of Zarephath too. She feared for her son and herself. But the man of God said, “Go and make for me first.” The man of God seemed to be telling her to agree to die. But as she obeyed God, she did not die after all. (I Kings 17:13-16)

There are decisions you have postponed and procrastinated in your life because you were afraid of dying; dying physically, dying in terms of your relationship and your prominence. And that is why you are where you are, making no progress. Why sit you there till you die?

Those lepers said, “Look if they save us alive, fine, we shall live! If they decide to kill us we shall but die.” The Bible says, “whosoever loses his life for my sake shall save it and keep it to eternal life.”

For you to progress in your life, death must lose its sting over your life. For you to step out into the call of God on your life, you must be able to look at death in the face and say, “if I die of hunger let me die.” And you will not die. All that laid down their certificates for the sake of preaching the gospel had the pertinent question of what to eat if there is no job. But as they stood up and said, “if I die, let me die.” They never died.

Even for those in either business or Government, when the Holy Spirit says, “You must give this portion of your money to God,” it has not been easy. The fear is, “If I should take such a big amount, and give it to God, that is not business; it is like throwing away money. What will happen to my business? It will die or fold up.”

Since you did not want the business to die, you then applied common sense. That is why you have remained where you are. For these lepers to break through into prosperity, they were ready to die. They told death, “We are going to come to your hand now, kill us.” But just when they were ready to die, death had no power to kill them. Death only has terror; it has no power.